The Record-Review – The official newspaper of Bedford and Pound Ridge, New York

JuLY 29, 2011

AM radio and the debt ceiling apocalypse

We were driving back from a long trip during the heat wave, and for about 180 miles the only thing on the radio dial was talk radio. A steady stream of voices accompanied us from Clarion to State College: Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Alex Jones.

“Is Obama a pathological liar?” asked Mr. Savage.

“Going from Nazi to liberal is a couple of steps to the right,” commented Mr. Beck coolly. “Obama will target anyone he doesn’t like; he will target them and destroy them.”

“Harry Reid needs to be ‘slapped in the face,’” chirped Fox News’s Bo Dietl. “Knock those glasses off his face.”

This group of radio voices made Nan Hayworth look like Dennis Kucinich.

Meanwhile, Monday night’s regularly scheduled showing of “The Bachelorette” — in which Ashley would be forced to choose between Ben, Constantine and J.P. — was interrupted with dire warnings from president Barack Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner. A failure to come to an agreement on a debt ceiling will weaken the dollar; interest rates would climb; the economy falter. Accepting the wrong deal could lead to “hyperinflation,” and pass the burden of debt to “future generations.” The calamities we face are almost Biblical in proportion, yet the process is limited to shouting on the airwaves and threats of disaster from our leaders.

Is this any way to run a dialogue? We saw the same process in 2008, when Mr. Obama’s well-intentioned plans to reform the nation’s dysfunctional health care system were transmuted into an incubation project for the Tea Party. By the time H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, was passed, it was so watered down and insipid that virtually nothing has changed — insurance rates have continued to skyrocket, the uninsured suffer with subquality care, waste and mismanagement still prevail and doctors scramble to survive in an age of high liability rates and shrinking reimbursements.

By the time you read this, this crisis may or may not be over. But one thing is certain: the towering, teetering Titanic of the American Treasury will continue to falter as it struggles to recover from two wars, a crisis on Wall Street and on Main Street, and a Congress that, quite literally, can’t agree on the weather.

OK, national leaders. If Ronald Reagan could raise the debt ceiling 18 times, surely you can do it just once, in time for Monday’s “Bachelorette” finale.

Bring back Fox & Sutherland

It was 1995 and the future was looking a bit glum for local bookstores. Looming were not the Kindle or the Nook, but superstores that threatened to gobble up the market and eliminate the little guy. Barnes & Noble, Borders, even WalMart, grew and grew, keeping more inventory and lowering prices. They bought big properties in small towns and made their presence felt. The little guys couldn’t compete. In ensuing years, locally, we saw the demise of Fox & Sutherland in Mount Kisco, of the Book Worm in Katonah.

We even remember when there was a little used-book shop on North Katonah Avenue, where NoKa Joe’s is today.

This week, we witnessed the bankruptcy of Borders and its final days on Main Street in Mount Kisco.

It is scant satisfaction to see the devourer devoured by bad management and poor corporate decisions. In any case, it should not be a judgment on our culture’s appetite for reading.

In this social media world, we steadfastly believe bookstores stand a chance: political, art and photography, literary fiction, military history, mystery. Throughout the country small entrepreneurs are devising clever and creative ways to share the wonders of literature in new and catchy venues. Visitors to the Strand in New York City, Kramer Books in Washington, D.C., the Bodhi Tree in Los Angeles, or Powell’s on the West Coast know that bookstores still have the ability to pack a crowd.

Awakenings in Katonah sells metaphysical works, and the Christian Cornerstone sells religious works on Route 117. Books are available at Target, and at nearby bookstores like the charming Village Books in Pleasantville, Books on the Common in Ridgefield, Conn., and Elm Street Books in New Canaan.

Yet there are storefronts in Pound Ridge, Bedford Village, Bedford Hills and Katonah that would be perfect for our next little bookstore. With all the local authors around, a store could be filled with hometown books alone. Literary entrepreneurs welcome.